"I in no way mean to minimize the impact of this spying on USS and USW. I also suspect they were targeted because the two organizations partner together on an increasingly successful manufacturing organization.Which would still constitute a fair spying target, but also one against which China has acute interests. But that still doesn't make it different from what the US does when it engages in spearphishing — or worse — to steal information to help us in trade negotiations or disputes. We've just criminalized something the NSA does all the time."